Bahrain made a winning start in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifying round defeating Bangladesh by 2-0 in Group E at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Wednesday.
Bangladesh conceded all two goals in the first half with midfielder Ali Abdula Haram opened scoring with a sensational header before Hasan Al Aswad confirmed the three points for Helio Sousa’s side beating opponents with the pace and fluid passing.
Predictably Bangladesh suffered the defeat against the almost 100 ranked higher opponents Bahrain, who are also the top favourites in the Group E.
Bahrain began on the front foot and looked to press high up the pitch right from the first whistle of the match, while Bangladesh, very sensibly sat deep and tried to play on the counter and get behind the Reds’ defense.
From the early stages of the game saw the Red and Green pinned back in their area and in the 16th minute Anisur Rahman Zico was called into action when he got down well to deny Abdullah Yusuf Helal.
Bahrain, who had a conditional camp in the neighbouring country Thailand coped with the Malaysian condition well, when they looked very easy as playing at home atmosphere.
Bahrain started on a lively note, with threating to take early lead when Ali Jafar Madan broke free on the left as he guided the ball past defender Yasin Arafat, though final Biswamnath Ghosh dealt well.
Abdullah then found Mahdi Faisal inside the box but his low attempt was blocked by Badshah in the 13th minute as Bahrain applied early pressure.
Bahrain finally broke the deadlock on 34th minute when Hasan Aswad floated a corner kick and unmarked Abdula Haram’s strong header went into the top corner of the near post giving no chance to Bangladesh keeper Zico (1-0).
Bahrain doubled the advantage just three minutes before to go for break and this time also the opportunity initiated from a corner kick when from a Jafar Madan’s corner Al Malood set the ball for Aswad, who fired a low cross to beat all the defenders including goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Zico.
Bangladesh, who had to play under pressure for full 90 minutes, went on built up a perfect counter attack on 26th minute but a perfect left side cross by Rakib inside the box went in vain when forward Sazzad was under strong marking by two defenders.
